Garlic Mustard

[+The Cheeseheads]

The Wisconsin DNR site has an article about garlic mustard, a non-native plant which is growing out-of-control and choking out the native plants in Wisconsin. Apparantly it is now flowering and easy to spot, and the DNR is encouraging people to pull it from the ground and dispose of it if you find any.

 

This might be a good thing for us to keep an eye out for while we're out in the woods. If you've never seen it before, there are pictures at the site.

 

Maybe if someone lives near an area that is infested, they could set up a "garlic mustard cache" and encourage people to yank up the weeds as they search for it.

 

[+Tedoca]

Many of the photos are from here in the D.C. area. I've seen this stuff all over the place in Maryland's woods but didn't know anything about it.

 

Regards,

Tedoca

 

[+MissJenn]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cheesehead Dave:

they could set up a "garlic mustard cache" and encourage people to yank up the weeds

---

That would be a GREAT log:

"Took garlic mustard. Left nothing."

Thanks for sharing the link. I did not know that this was an issue, and now, thanks to you, I've learned!

 

-----

You must be present to win.

[skydiver]

Cool new twist on cache in/trash out.

 

--- Two paths diverged in a wood, and my... my GPSr pointed dead center between them. ---

[+WaldenRun]

Any chance this plant can crowd out poison ivy? We're itching to get something here in the Northeast that can reduce the spread of the hated vine. -WR

 

"Why worry when you can obsess?"

[+Markwell]

Want some kudzu?

 

I never really was bothered by it until I saw it choking the side of Signal Mountain, TN. Better close your windows at night...

 

Markwell

My Geocaching Page

[soup]

Here in Oregon, we are having a ivy clearing project, organized with the park staff at one of our parks. Its a geocaching event with the main focus being the removal of an invasive ivy. Read about it here.

 

It is going to be a fun event with benefits for the park, and us cachers (as we will be including some cache hunting ). You might consider doing something similar in your area. -C

 

Its as BAD as you think, and they ARE out to get you..

[soup]

Here in Oregon, we are having a ivy clearing project, organized with the park staff at one of our parks. Its a geocaching event with the main focus being the removal of an invasive ivy. Read about it here.

 

It is going to be a fun event with benefits for the park, and us cachers (as we will be including some cache hunting ). You might consider doing something similar in your area. -C

 

Its as BAD as you think, and they ARE out to get you..

[GeoStars]

that's what my boys (5 and 7) have become. I'd heard of the stuff but wouldn't have recognized it prior to a couple of weeks ago. We were out hunting a cache and ran across the county naturalist that had placed it. He had a wagon full of garlic mustard he had pulled from a local nature preserve. He told my boys what it was and explained how it was taking over the woods. Turns out we have tons of the stuff on our own property and my boys have taken it upon themselves to eliminate it. I find myself pulling it out by the roots while I'm walking through the woods. I notice it as I drive through the country... Never thought about incorporating it into geocaching but since geocaching and environmental awareness often go hand-in-hand, it makes a lot of sense.

 

Now as bad as garlic mustard is, we used to live in Kentucky and I have to say I've never seen anything as bad as kudzu. It would literally devour an entire hill or mountainside!

 

GeoMedic - team leader of GeoStars

[+MissJenn]

For those of you who may not feel like clicking around too much to look for pictures

 

a general picture of the plant

 

close up of flowers

 

from Wisconsin DNR:

quote:

---

Garlic mustard is a cool-season biennial herb that ranges from 12 to 48 inches in height as an adult flowering plant. Leaves and stems emit the distinctive odor of onion or garlic when crushed (particularly in spring and early summer), and help distinguish the plant from all other woodland mustard plants. First year plants consist of a cluster of 3 or 4 round, scallop edged leaves rising 2 to 4 inches in a rosette. ... Garlic mustard is the only plant of this height in our woods with white flowers in May. Fruits are slender capsules 1 to 2.5 inches long that produce a single row of oblong black seeds with ridged seed coats. Stem leaves are alternate and triangular in shape, have large teeth, and can be 2 to 3 inches across in fruiting plants. Petioles are longer on the leaves towards the base. Garlic mustard can also be distinguished by its uproot, which is slender, white, and "s"-shaped at the top of the root.

---

[+The GeoGadgets Team]

Now, I'm not real sure how to go about this, but can't one use wild mustard for something beneficial? According to an herb book of mine the leaves of the plant, when crushed make an antiseptic paste that can be used on wounds. According to the book "New Age Herbalist" by Richard Mabey, the seeds of white mustard can be dried then used whole (for pickling) or crushed to powder the same way that one can the white mustard powder that Schilling sells (in soups, stews and sauces).

 

Wouldn't it be beneficial to someone to purchase the cast-offs of this plant and utilize it for it's obvious benefits? I mean, kudzu, crabgrass and poison oak/ivy aside, almost everything has a beneficial side.

----------

Lori aka: RedwoodRed

KF6VFI

"I don't get lost, I investigate alternative destinations."

GeoGadgets Team Website

Comics, Video Games and Movie Fansite

 

It's not whether or not you pick your nose that matters, but where you put the booger...

[OFF RODE]

If there was an actual Garlic Mustard product Im thinking it would be great on a pastrami sandwhich.

Anyone been to the Gilroy Ca. Garlic Festival and seen such a thing???

 

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." Yogi Berra

[cozmo469]

Well, it is a little late in the season now, but when the plant is young and the leaves are small, they are very tasty. It has a good garlic taste (the leaves) and can be fried up, baked in or place on any garlic lover's food. You must like garlic hence: the name garlic mustard.

 

Remember: only eat when the plant is young (March-Late April) and do not eat anything if you are unsure what it is. If you eat it now, it will not have much of a taste and can give you a tummy ache.

[Carly&Cliff]

Unfortunatly the time to pull Garlic Mustard has passed. As soon as it flowers it will form thousands of tiny seeds (they are in little green spikes on the top of the plant). They are in full seed now. If you pull the dang stuff now, you will just spread the seeds and do more harm than good.

 

Let's all try to remember for next year. Earth day is the perfect time to pull it. It is big enough to recognize but hasn't flowered yet. Luckily, it pulls easily.

[+tntyz]

quote:

---

Unfortunatly the time to pull Garlic Mustard has passed. As soon as it flowers it will form thousands of tiny seeds (they are in little green spikes on the top of the plant). They are in full seed now. If you pull the dang stuff now, you will just spread the seeds and do more harm than good.

---

 

This depends on where you're located. Here in SE Wisconsin these buggers don't look like they've seeded yet, especially with our cooler than normal spring.

 

I also recall reading about these weeds causing reactions in some folks much like poison ivy, but I couldn't find anything in my (admittedly brief) search of the Web. However, I recall a suggestion of wearing some protection on your hands.

[+GOT GPS?]

This Garlic Mustard stuff sounds bad, and it is overtaking in alot of areas. I just heard on the radio this morning about the stuff, but hope that it does not overtake the vegitation here in South East Michigan.

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/er/invasive/factsheets/garlic.htm

 

[This message was edited by GOT GPS? on March 30, 2003 at 10:01 AM.]

[Cloak_N_Dagger]

If it's in bloom right now, it may get nipped. We just got 8-12+ inches of snow dumped on us here in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

--------------

ASA/MI Veteran ... Geocaching for Uncle Sam ... we just didn't realize it at the time!

[umc]

WoW,

 

If this topic would have come up any other time I would have probably just passed it by.

 

As a matter of fact a few geocachers in our area met up with the NAP yesterday which is a group that takes care of the parks aournd Ann Arbor over here in Michigan. Our outing yesterday consisted of pulling the Garlic Mustard plant. It was quite an experience where we spen 3 hours doing this. It was really neat to learn something new about nature and this plant.

 

Becarful if you plan on picking some yourself as there are plants that look very similar that should not be pulled. If you are interested I would suggest getting a hold of a local group and working with them to help in what areas they see fit. It would also help for geocaching in general to let these local groups know that we do care about our enviroment and all.

 

If you live in Michigan and are interested in such projects like this you can let me know or come on over to http://www.mi-geocaching.org and read some of the threads and articles about the projects that we are involved in with the NAP and other Orginizations.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

So far so good, somewhat new owner of a second/new Garmin GPS V 20 plus finds so far with little to no problem. We'll see what happens when there are leaves on the trees again.

[+Scook]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The GeoGadgets Team:

Now, I'm not real sure how to go about this, but can't one use wild mustard for something beneficial? ...

... seeds of white mustard can be dried then used whole (for pickling) or crushed to powder the same way that one can the white mustard powder that Schilling sells (in soups, stews and sauces).

---

 

Unfortunately, the seeds of garlic mustard are not like regular mustard seeds, but are much smaller and black, more like fine poppy seeds.

The real problem is that one garlic mustard plant can produce a thousand or more seeds that germinate and crowd out native plants. There are lots of areas where I can no longer show anyone the beauty of squirrel corn, dutchmen's breeches or other wild flowers in the spring for the overwhelming amounts of garlic mustard plants.

The usefulness of a plant does not necessarily make it a valued addition to an ecosystem.

 

"Adrift in a world he never made!"

[+Newenglandah]

I have a couple of questions about this Mustard Garlic???

First can you find it in Massachusetts? I'd like to cook with it?

 

Second would controled burning kill the plant and seeds?

 

Found the cache but where is that damm GPS?

See You In the Woods!!!

Natureboy1376

[arcteryx79]

Actually, garlic mustard is my "speciality"! I am working on the effects of prescribed fire and herbicide on garlic mustard regeneration for my thesis.

 

Natureboy1376, previous studies have shown that repeated annual dormant season (late winter, early spring) burns are the most effective. But since the seed remains viable for up to 5 years, you have to burn for at least that length of time...

 

Any more questions, just ask!

[+MissJenn]

I wonder if we could move this thread to the CITO forum?

[+SamLowrey]

Sounds tasty.

[+The Cheeseheads]

Sounds tasty.

I guess it is edible, which may be why the poineers brought it here in the first place.

 

Talk about bringing a thread back from the dead though... May, 2002? There's a blast from the past...

[uperdooper]

henbin is a big problem in mid-michigan. it takes over everything. with all the people complaining about ruining fragile ecosystems, who would have thought we be asked to pull up plants.

[+woof n lulu]

Here in New Mexico, its plain mustard, and Chinary Oak that was planted here to stop soil erosion.

Now we have thousands of acres of 1 ft. high oak trees that produce tiny acorns, and the mustard is so bad its choking out the chile plants that are a big money crop here. When I raised ducks, they would not even eat the stuff!

 

Sometimes its not nice to fool with mother nature.

[+MissJenn]

Talk about bringing a thread back from the dead though... May, 2002? There's a blast from the past...

Yes, it's still a problem!

[+Polgara]

For those of you who may not feel like clicking around too much to look for pictures

 

There is also a plant that is doing this same sort of invasive behavior and killing off native plants of the area in PA. Unfortunately I don't remember what it is called. There is a cacher I know that explained this to me, I'll see if I can get her to post about it in here.

Edited February 24, 2004 by Ce'Nedra